


Safe and Sound

by agerefandom (tazia101)



Series: Steven Universe Regression [1]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Gen, Non-Sexual Age Play, Regressor!Steven, We Need Some Better Age Regression Tags On Here, agere
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:20:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25492978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tazia101/pseuds/agerefandom
Summary: Steven decides to give up age regression to become a Crystal Gem. The process isn't as easy as he expected, and one morning he finds himself physically in a younger body and can't shapeshift back to normal.
Series: Steven Universe Regression [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2179167
Comments: 8
Kudos: 62





	Safe and Sound

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on my fanfiction blog @agerefandom, where I'm always taking requests from sfw blogs! 
> 
> I use non-sexual kink tags because AO3 doesn't have a great system for tagging age regression yet, and I hope I can popularize the 'agere' tag for the future. Anyways, I hope you enjoy!

Steven loved the beach house that he shared with the Gems. He loved the constant sound of the waves, and the calm glow of the warp pad at night. He loved the short and familiar walk to town, his comfortable bed, and the bathtub deep enough that he could submerge his whole body.

The only thing that Steven hated about his home was the lack of privacy.

Even when the Gems were away on a mission, they could warp back in at any given moment. At night, Amethyst often wandered in to get a midnight snack, and Steven was sure that Pearl still watched him sleep, even if he hadn’t caught her recently.

So when Steven wanted to regress, he had to plan ahead.

At first, he had retreated into his mother’s room, knowing that no one could access it while he was inside. But as soon as he stopped being careful about what he wished for, Rose was always there, stepping off a nearby cloud to collect her son into her arms. Steven was happy to see his mother when he was little, playing and laughing and sharing his favourite stories. But at some point, he always aged up, and Rose would change into a figure who was silent, and looming, and distant. Steven would retreat from the room feeling more exhausted than before, promising himself that he wouldn’t go in again.

Lion became Steven’s source of escape. He would pack a bag, hop on Lion’s back, and tell the Gems that he was spending the afternoon with Connie, or Ronaldo, or even Sadie. He had enough friends that the Gems never checked first, and then he had a whole day to spend in a field in Alberta, or Texas, or even France.

Lion would pace around the area while Steven played, rumbling warnings at anyone who tried to approach. Steven would run, and explore, and eventually sit down and cry until his throat hurt too much to continue. Often, Lion would come and curl against him while he cried, turning his head away to feign indifference as his tail wrapped around Steven’s wrist.

Regression was only fun for a while, for Steven. Eventually, reality came crashing back in, harsher and bleaker in contrast to the bright innocent world he had inhabited for a few too-brief minutes.

Yet he came back to it again and again, not knowing a better way to escape the constant anxiety of his everyday life. He needed to forget about the most current threat to planet Earth, needed to forget about Pearl and Amethyst’s most recent fight. Needed to forget the guilt of walking in on his father crying over a picture of Rose.

Regression was a safe space like nothing else in his life was, ruled by uncertainty and continual attacks from outside and inside his family.

–

Eventually, it fell apart.

As Steven was expected on more missions, the Gems might need him at any moment. If Steven wasn’t where he said he’d be, then all hell would break loose as the Gems searched for him. He was scared that if it happened too many times, then the Gems would stop letting him leave with Lion at all.

So there was only one thing to do. Steven had to give up regression. There was no time or space for it in his life, he always needed to be available for Crystal Gem missions. It was alright that the others forgot he needed to sleep, needed to eat, needed to _rest_ between missions spent running after corrupted gems.

Steven was a Crystal Gem now, and he needed to act like it. That meant no more running away to be a kid every so often.

Steven was going cold-turkey.

But of course, things didn’t really work out like that. Steven managed to hang on for two full months, hiding his panic attacks in the bathroom and trying not to fall asleep on the couch whenever he sat down.

At the start of the second month, he woke up to the morning sun with tears already running down his face. His clothes were too big on him, and his arms felt weak when he tried to move them.

Trying not to panic, Steven looked down at himself and saw a young child’s body, twisted in the sheets and teenage-sized clothes that he’d slept in. He needed to shift back to normal-Steven before the Gems came out to see him!

But Steven couldn’t stop sobbing, and however hard he concentrated, he couldn’t calm down enough to shift back to his usual size. His failed attempts made him cry harder. What was he going to do? No one could see him like this!

Just as he was getting ready to truly panic, he heard the warp pad activate. Hurriedly throwing the covers over himself, Steven tried to cry as quietly as possible.

The Gem’s voices were bright as they spread out across the house, Amethyst’s voice drifting towards the fridge as the others settled on the couch. Their mission must have gone well. Pearl sounded especially enthused, but Steven couldn’t make out the words through the pounding panic in his head. Any minute they would notice him, unless he kept absolutely still. He had to keep absolutely quiet, despite the way that his chest was spasming, and he couldn’t breathe, and he just wanted his paci-

“Steven.” Garnet’s voice drifted up from below him, low and calm. “We’re home.”

Steven twisted his fists into the blankets, making a renewed effort to calm his breathing. If Garnet thought something was wrong, she would know everything as soon as she thought to look. Steven tried to make his voice sound normal, even though his body wasn’t cooperating.

“Oh, cool. I’m just having a n-nap.” His voice hitched on the last word, and he froze under the covers. There was silence for a beat, and then Pearl’s voice murmured a question to Garnet, too quiet for Steven to hear.

“What’s wrong, dude?” Amethyst broke right to the point, and Steven could hear her coming towards the stairs. He curled tighter into the blankets, prepared to wrestle them away from Amethyst’s grasping hands. But she stopped at the bottom and called up to him again. “Steven? Are you sick? If you’re gonna throw up, I wanna see!”

“Amethyst!” Pearl’s voice was sharp until she turned her attention to Steven. “Steven, are you alright? Do you need some food?” Steven had snapped at her about needing to eat breakfast a few weeks ago, and she had taken to offering snacks at the first sign of Steven’s distress.

“Steven is fine,” Garnet said calmly, and the other two made questioning noises at her. Steven curled tighter into the blanket, confused. He wasn’t fine! What was Garnet saying? Was she lying, or did she somehow not know what was happening? “Steven, you can come out and see us. No one will be mad.” Steven whimpered. Garnet was definitely lying. She wanted him to come out so that they could fix him.

“Mad? Why would we be mad?” Pearl was saying.

“Come on, Steven.” Garnet’s voice was familiar, soft and certain. She always knew what was best, didn’t she? “You know we love to play with you. We always want to be with you, and spend time with you.”

“Of course we do!” Pearl’s voice was shrill. “We love Steven, he knows that!”

“Yeah, duh!” Amethyst added. “Steven is the best.”

Steven couldn’t stifle the tears as they spoke. They didn’t know who he was, didn’t know what he was hiding. They would see that he was just a stupid kid, that he couldn’t handle being a Crystal Gem. Why did they have to love him? It wasn’t fair. They would have just left him alone if they cared less, and then it wouldn’t hurt so much.

“Steven?” Pearl was the one to climb the stairs, her voice alarmed. “Steven, what’s wrong? Don’t cry.” She scooped Steven off the bed, blankets and all, to hold him tight. “Come on, Steven, stop crying. We’re all here.” She started to unwrap the blankets from around him, and Steven panicked.

“No!” he shouted, trying to push her away. “No, no, no!” Pearl gasped, and then Steven was on the floor. The blankets were in his face, wrapped around his neck, and all of a sudden Steven felt trapped. He pushed at them, rolling on the floor, kicking arms and legs that were too small and too weak. He couldn’t breathe, but then the next second the blankets were gone and he was drawing in a breath to cry out again, the wailing cry of an overwhelmed toddler. “Leave me alone!” Steven shouted, slamming his hands into the wood of the floor. “Leave me alone!”

Hands wrapped around him and he was lifted off the floor. Steven wriggled against them, but they held strong, and suddenly he was cradled against the side of Garnet’s hip, held stable and safe against her. Garnet bounced Steven lightly, practised and easy.

“Hush, little one,” Garnet murmured. “We carried you for years, you know that.” Steven hid his face in her shoulder, sniffling. He was exposed, yet protected. He was vulnerable, yet safe. He didn’t know how to feel or what he should do. He was starting to calm down now, so surely he should shift back to normal as soon as possible? Being big-Steven seemed so far away and impossible, even as the tears and panic subsided. Garnet’s arms were so nice, so familiar.

“Do humans do that?” Pearl asked from somewhere over Garnet’s shoulder. “I thought they were linear time-beings and rather bitter about it.”

“Steven’s only half-human,” Garnet reminded her. “He’s special.”

“Can I hold him? Can I hold him?” Amethyst’s voice was as excited as ever. “Is he young enough for a bottle? I still have some of them in my room!”

“Nothing from your room is going into Steven’s mouth without a good wash first,” Pearl said sharply. “But I do have a clean bottle or two stored in my gem, if it would help,” she added to Garnet.

“Steven gets to make the decision,” Garnet said simply, shifting her hold on Steven so that he was sitting on her lap, on the edge of his bed, looking outwards. Once his hands were free, Steven put his fingers into his mouth and bit down anxiously, trying not to meet the eyes of the three Gems watching him.

“Oh, those are filthy,” Pearl admonished, and the next second Steven felt his fingers being pulled away, replaced smoothly by a pacifier. The familiar pressure on his tongue made him relax, and he finally looked up. Pearl was smiling at him, her gem still sparkling from when she had summoned the pacifier. Was she not angry?

“What’d’you say, Steven?” Amethyst’s face was suddenly right in front of him, her eyes big and hopeful. “Do you want a bottle from your big sis Amethyst?”

“Amethyst,” Steven tried to say, but around the pacifier it sounded like babbling. He felt himself go red, and bobbed his head in a nod.

Amethyst pumped a fist in the air and said something enthusiastically, but Steven didn’t hear it because Garnet had put her hands over his ears. Pearl looked angry about Amethyst’s outburst, wagging her finger and pointing to Steven. Steven could feel Garnet laughing against his back.

“You have a silly family, Steven,” Garnet murmured when she took her hands back. “But they all love you very much.”

“Sorry, Steven,” said Amethyst, looking contrite. “I forgot you were little for a second.”

“Baba!” Steven managed around his paci, making grabby hands. Wasn’t Amethyst going to feed him?

“Coming right up!” Pearl sing-songed, dropping a kiss on Steven’s forehead before summoning a shiny bottle out of her gem with a wave of her hand. She passed the bottle to Amethyst, who did a front-flip off the bed, landed on the couch, and bounced all the way to the kitchen with one more jump.

“Oooh!” Steven clapped for her, laughing.

“Amethyst, use the stairs!” Pearl sighed, before kneeling down in front of Steven. “Hello, Steven,” she said gently. “Do you remember me?”

“Pearl!” Steven tried around his paci, and Pearl beamed at him.

“That’s right!” She tapped the end of his nose, and Steven giggled. “Now, what did you eat for breakfast yesterday?”

Steven let the paci fall from his mouth, barely noticing Garnet catch it. “Donuts!” he told Pearl proudly. “Walk all the way!”

“You do eat a lot of donuts! Who gives you the donuts?”

“Sadie!” Steven was bouncing on Garnet’s lap, giggling. “And Lars!”

“Good job!” Pearl produced a star sticker from what seemed like nowhere and pressed it to the front of Steven’s too-big shirt. “You’re a very smart little human.”

“Uh-huh!” Steven looked around for his paci, but Garnet was already putting it back in his mouth. He settled back against her chest, humming happily. He had the best Gems _ever_.

“I told you he was fine,” Garnet said without reproach. Her fingers scratched gently at Steven’s scalp, making him melt even further. “You remember his last birthday, he was even younger then.”

“We don’t know how a Rejuvenator would affect a half-human,” Pearl murmured. Her words washed over Steven as he hummed, wriggling closer to Garnet’s wonderful hands. “You know I like to be careful. You know who he is.”

“Yes.” Garnet sighed, trailing one hand down to tickle under Steven’s chin, making him giggle. “I understand. But I think this is part of our wonderful Steven. A little bit of the past, every now and then.”

“I got the bottle!” Amethyst burst back into the conversation, stomping up the stairs two at a time. “Where’s the Steven?”

“Baba!” Steven reached out for his food-bringer, grinning so wide that his paci slipped out again. He frowned, reaching for it, but Garnet had it in one hand.

“You’ll get it back after your bottle,” she told him, and handed him over to Amethyst.

Amethyst hoisted him up in the air, and Steven sniffled, feeling unsafe with all the air under his feet. “Oh, sorry.” Amethyst put Steven down before he started to cry again, sitting down with him on her lap. She cradled him like a baby, which Steven wasn’t, but he was pretty comfy so he relaxed into her arms. “Okay, little dude, open wide!” Amethyst made lots of funny faces and noses while Steven drank the warm milk inside the bottle, making him giggle and spill milk down the front of his chin. That made Amethyst laugh out loud, jostling Steven in her lap. Garnet and Pearl sat on the end of the bed, watching them both with fond smiles.

By the end of the bottle, Steven’s eyelids were as heavy as big huge rocks. He was trying to stay awake, but he was yawning to much to even keep in his paci.

“We’ll still be here when you wake up,” Garnet said, laying Steven carefully on a pillow as Pearl untangled the sheet from the ground and laid it over him, tucking it in carefully on all sides.

“Yeah! We can play little Steven tag!” Amethyst said, shape-shifting into the same size as Steven was.

“Lil’ Steven tag,” Steven yawned. That sounded like lots of fun, he wanted to play now but his eyelids were so heavy…

“We love you,” Garnet murmured, and that was the last thing Steven heard as he fell asleep.


End file.
